Walking Down Madison Lyrics - Singles - Maccoll Kirsty

(Kirsty MacColl/Johnny Marr) 

Walking down Madison - I swear I never had a gun 

No I never shot no-one - I was only having fun 

Walking down Madison - swear I never had a gun 

I was philosophizing some 

Checking out the bums 

See you give 'em your nickels, your pennies and dimes 

But you can't give 'em hope in these mercenary times, oh no 

And you feel real guilty about the coat on your back 

And the sandwich you had, oh no 

From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park 

Oh no it's not that far 

Would you like to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

Walking down Madison - I swear I never had a gun 

No I never shot no-one - wouldn't do it just for fun 

Walking down Madison - trying to keep my head screwed on 

I was philosophizing some 

Checking out the nuns 

When you get to the corner don't look at those freaks 

Keep your head down low and stay quick on your feet, oh yeah 

The beaming boy from Harlem with the airforce coat 

The ones who died 

The ones who tried 

The ones that sit and gloat 

From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps 

It's not that far 

Would you like to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

Within every city and town there's a Madison 

Frozen lives for whom nothing's happening 

Hungry children is a mother's dilemma 

Dumpster diving to feed her baby Emma 

So you walk on by like it doesn't affect you 

The held out hand that you pay no respect to 

Nickels and dimes won't even buy your guilt 

Another wino burnt to death in his quilt 

It's a cardboard city, newspaper metropolis 

The system can't cope or keep on top of this 

The authorities come as you're not for display 

Do they solve the problem no they move him away 

They're in a vicious circle of no fixed abode 

The social won't pay 'em the money they're owed 

When you've got no money you can't pay rent 

Hypothermia kills 'cos the system is bent 

From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep in the park 

Oh no it's not that far 

Would you like to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

From an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train 

It's not that far 

From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement 

It's not that far 

To the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps 

It's not that far 

Would you like to see some more? 

I can show you if you'd like to 

In the subway sits a vacuous man 

His grip on life is a bent tin can 

It's a holy shrine where he burns his light 

It makes things easy and removes his plight 

For an hour or two but he can't escape 

They're all penned in with government tape 

There are good samaritans who bring the soup 

The sally army with their bibles and boots 

You can see yourself as it's not too far 

One short trip you don't who they are 

Till the night comes then it all comes back 

Like the smell of patchouli and the armies of rats 

It's a shame to be human it's a human shame 

It seems we've forgotten we're one and the same